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THE BULLETIN OE THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia.
Published Monthly by the Publicity Department,
409 Herald Building, Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Price—$2.00 Per Year
VOL. II APRIL, 1921 No. 5
CARDINAL GIBBONS
“The great leader and soldier, the great legislator,
the far-visioned educator, the great patriot, the kindly,
gentle old man.”
It was His Grace, Archbishop John J. Glennon,
of St. Louis, looking down from the pulpit in the
Cathedral of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin
Mary on the bier of the fellow churchman whom he
held so dearly, who painted this striking word picture
of America’s Prince of the Church, the late James
Cardinal Gibbons.
Sixty years a Priest of God, fifty-two years a Bishop
and over a third of a century a Prince of the Church,
Cardinal Gibbons slipped into death and the arms of
His Saviour on Holy Thursday. With his passing
went not only a great prelate, but the churchman of
the age; not only a patriot of the highest type, but an
American institution.
Sixty years ago, he whom we mourn ascended the
altar, a gentle Priest, yet courageous in defending his
beliefs; humble, but not so humble that he would not
defend the weak against those in high places; radiant
in his personality; a genial lover of his fellow-man; a
devout believer in those great principles upon which
our government is based. When his life’s work was
over, when Heaven was lonesome and he was called
home, he was the same humble, courageous, amiable,
patriotic man as the simple Priest of nearly two-thirds
of a century before.
We called him “Our Cardinal,’’ but he was every
body’s Cardinal. No American of our generation,
with the possible exception of Theodore Roosevelt,
has been the subject of so many characteristic anec
dotes and human interest stories as he. He had a fol
lowing among all classes, Jew and Gentile, Protestant
and Catholic, the high and the lowly, the cultured
and the simple, that made him the leading semi-public
figure in the United States.
There is no body of people that was not affected by
his passing. Clergymen of all denominations paid
tribute to him. The press, through its editorial col
umns, told of the high place he held in the esteem
of the American people. It was the President of the
United States, Warren G. Harding, who paid the fol
lowing tribute to him:
“In common with all our people, I mourn the
death of Cardinal Gibbons. His long and
notable service to the country, and to the Church
makes us all his debtors. He was ever ready
to lend his encouragement to any movement for
the benefit of his fellowman. He was the very
finest type of citizen and churchman.
It was my good fortune to know him per
sonally, and I held him in the highest esteem
and veneration. His death is a distinct loss to
the country, but it brings to fuller appreciation
a great and admirable life.’’
Similar tributes from Vice-President Coolidge, Sec
retary of State Hughes, former Secretary of War
Baker, Senators Lodge of Massachusetts, Reed of Mis
souri, France of Maryland, Cummings of Iowa, Watson
of Indiana, and dozens of others, including represen
tatives of foreign nations poured into the Baltimore
structure where he lived and which was so intimately
connected with his life of accomplishment.
Cardinal Gibbons was not the first Prince of the
Church in America; he will not be the last. But until
the work of the Church in America and elsewhere
is over and the Recording Angel sounds his trumpet
for the last judgment, America will know and love
him as “The Cardinal.’’
Eternal rest grant him, O Lord, and let perpetual
light shine upon him.
THE PRESIDENT’S APPEAL.
In the March Bulletin you no doubt read the
strong and timely appeal of our Rt. Rev. Bishop under
the head of “Georgia’s Lay Apostolate and National
Catholic Press Month,” urging upon the Catholics of
Georgia to subscribe to The Bulletin, the monthly
organ of the Laymen’s Association of Georgia.
We have at least 20,000 Catholics in the State,
and of this number only 1,900 have contributed to
this work, showing conclusively that 1 8,000 or more
are not represented in this great Apostolate work.
Let me urge upon the officers of local Associa
tions to call meetings at once to arrange in some way
or by some means to reach those who have not con
tributed to our work. Urge them to contribute or at
least to subscribe to the Monthly Bulletin, which is
only $2.00 per year.
Catholics outside of Georgia recognize and appre
ciate the work of our Association and are sending in
substantial contributions, independent of their $2.00
subscriptions.
As Georgia Catholics we should be proud of our
Association, the only one of its kind in the history of
the Church where Catholic men and women are
banded together to dispel prejudice and to bring about
a friendlier feeling between non-Catholics and their
their Catholic brethren.
(Signed)
P. H. RICE,
President.
ARE CATHOLICS PATRIOTIC?
An answer to the charge that Catholics are not
good Americans may be found at the bottom of the
second column on page 4 of this issue of The Bulletin.
The “unpatriotic’’ Catholics of our State gave to
the American forces during the World War 18 per
cent more men than their quota according to popula
tion.